Matthew 23 - 24 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Scribes and Pharisees Denounced

23^aThen Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, ²saying: “^aThe scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; ³therefore all that they tell you, do and keep, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. ⁴“^aAnd they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. ⁵“But they do all their deeds ^ato be noticed by men; for they ^bbroaden their ¹phylacteries and lengthen ^cthe tassels of their garments. ⁶“And they ^alove the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, ⁷and respectful greetings in the marketplaces, and being called ^aRabbi by men. ⁸“But ^ado not be called ^bRabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹“And do not call anyone on earth your father; for ^aOne is your Father, He who is in heaven. ¹⁰“Do not be called instructors; for One is your Instructor, that is, Christ. ¹¹“^aBut the greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹²“^aAnd whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

Woes to the Scribes and Pharisees

¹³“^aBut woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, ^bbecause you shut off the kingdom of heaven ¹from ²people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. ¹⁴¹[“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because ^ayou devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.]

¹⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one ¹^,^aproselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of ²^,^bhell as yourselves.

¹⁶“Woe to you, ^ablind guides, who say, ‘^bWhoever swears by the ¹sanctuary, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the ²sanctuary is obligated.’ ¹⁷“You fools and blind men! For ^awhich is ¹more important, the gold or the sanctuary that sanctified the gold? ¹⁸“And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the ¹offering on it, he is obligated.’ ¹⁹“You blind men, ^awhich is ¹more important, the ²offering, or the altar that sanctifies the ³offering? ²⁰“Therefore, ¹whoever swears by the altar, swears both by ²the altar and by everything on it. ²¹“And ¹whoever swears by the sanctuary, swears both by the ²sanctuary and by Him who ^adwells within it. ²²“And ¹whoever swears by heaven, ^aswears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

²³“^aWoe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and ¹cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. ²⁴“You ^ablind guides, who strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!

²⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ^ayou clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full ¹of robbery and self-indulgence. ²⁶“You blind Pharisee, first ^aclean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

²⁷“^aWoe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸“In this way, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹“^aWoe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹“So you bear witness against yourselves, that you ^aare ¹sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³²“Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. ³³“You serpents, ^ayou brood of vipers, how ¹will you escape the ²sentence of ³^,^bhell?

³⁴“^aOn account of this, behold, ^bI am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will ^cflog in your synagogues, and ^dpersecute from city to city, ³⁵so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous ^aAbel to the blood of Zechariah, the ^bson of Berechiah, whom ^cyou murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶“Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon ^athis generation.

Lament over Jerusalem

³⁷“^aJerusalem, Jerusalem, who ^bkills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, ^cthe way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you did not want it. ³⁸“Behold, ^ayour house is being left to you desolate! ³⁹“For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘^aBlessed is He who comes in the name of the ¹Lord!’”

Signs of Christ’s Return

24^aAnd coming ^bout from the temple, Jesus was going along, and His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. ²And He answered and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, ^anot one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

³Now as He was sitting on ^athe Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of ^bYour coming and of the ¹end of the age?”

⁴And Jesus answered and said to them, “^aSee to it that no one deceives you. ⁵“For ^amany will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the ¹Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶“And you are going to hear of ^awars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. ⁷“For ^anation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be ^bfamines and earthquakes. ⁸“^aBut all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains.

⁹“^aThen they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and ^byou will be hated by all nations because of My name. ¹⁰“And at that time many will ¹^,^afall away and will ²betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹“Many ^afalse prophets will arise and will deceive many. ¹²“And because lawlessness is multiplied, ¹most people’s love will grow cold. ¹³“^aBut the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. ¹⁴“And this ^agospel of the kingdom ^bshall be proclaimed in the whole ¹^,^cworld as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Abomination of Desolation and the Tribulation

¹⁵“Therefore when you see the ^aabomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in ^bthe holy place (^clet the reader understand), ¹⁶then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. ¹⁷“¹Whoever is on ^athe housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. ¹⁸“And ¹whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his garment. ¹⁹“But ^awoe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰“But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. ²¹“For then there will be a ^agreat tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. ²²“And unless those days had been cut short, no ¹life would have been saved; but for ^athe sake of the ²elect those days will be cut short. ²³“^aThen if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the ¹Christ,’ or ‘²There He is,’ do not believe him. ²⁴“For false christs and ^afalse prophets will arise and will ¹show great ²^,^bsigns and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even ^cthe ³elect. ²⁵“Behold, I have told you in advance. ²⁶“Therefore, if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. ²⁷“^aFor just as the lightning comes from the east and appears even to the west, so will the ^bcoming of the ^cSon of Man be. ²⁸“^aWherever the corpse is, there the ¹vultures will gather.

The Coming of the Son of Man

²⁹“But immediately after the ^atribulation of those days ^bthe sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and ^cthe stars will fall from ¹the sky, and the powers of ²the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰“And then ^athe sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ^bthe Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. ³¹“And ^aHe will send forth His angels with ^ba great trumpet and they will gather together His ¹^,^celect from ^dthe four winds, from one end of the sky to the ²other.

The Parable of the Fig Tree

³²“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; ³³so, you too, when you see all these things, ¹recognize that ²He is near, right ^aat the ³door. ³⁴“Truly I say to you, ^athis ¹generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ³⁵“^aHeaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

³⁶“But ^aof that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. ³⁷“For ^ajust as the days of Noah were, so the ^bcoming of the Son of Man will be. ³⁸“For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, ^amarrying and giving in marriage, until the day that ^bNoah entered the ark, ³⁹and they did not ¹understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the ^acoming of the Son of Man be. ⁴⁰“Then there will be two in the field; one ¹will be taken, and one ²will be left. ⁴¹“^aTwo women will be grinding grain at the ¹^,^bmill; one ²will be taken and one ³will be left.

Be Ready for His Coming

⁴²“Therefore ^astay awake, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. ⁴³“But ¹be sure of this, that ^aif the head of the house had known ^bat what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed his house to be ²broken into. ⁴⁴“For this reason ^ayou also must be ready; for ^bthe Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

⁴⁵“^aWho then is the ^bfaithful and ^cprudent slave whom his ¹master ^dput in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶“Blessed is that slave whom his ¹master finds so doing when he comes. ⁴⁷“Truly I say to you that ^ahe will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸“But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My ¹master ²is not coming for a long time,’ ⁴⁹and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; ⁵⁰the ¹master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, ⁵¹and will ¹cut him in pieces and ²assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be ^aweeping and gnashing of teeth.